Room for reflection
The Tautra monastery in Trøndelag was drawn by the architectural firm Jensen & Skodvin. Building materials from Moelven were used both as supporting structures and to clad indoor and outdoor surfaces. Wood helps give the monastery a feel of character and warmth, and large open surfaces help link the magnificent outdoor scenery with life and activities inside the monastery.
The nuns have a calling in life. They try to orient everything they do toward the Lord. At the Maria monastery in Nord-Trøndelag, only a glass ceiling separates them from heaven.
The monastery provides room for warmth and reflection. And through the glass in the walls and ceiling, the surrounding nature provides inspiration. Only seventy metres from the monastery the waves of the Trondheim fjord stroke gently along the coastline. If one closes one’s eyes, the walls sometimes fade away and one can feel oneself becoming part of the nature on the outside.
The nuns days start at four o’clock in the morning. At 04.20hrs there is a common prayer service, and the rest of the day is usually filled with reading and working in the kitchen garden. The nuns also cook aroma-filled soaps, which are sold to the general public. They go to bed at about 20.00hrs.
Today the purpose of monastic life is to seek life with God. The nuns know that their current residence will be where they will be living the rest of their lives.